Social Comparisons and Cooperation during COVID-19

We conduct a randomized survey experiment during the pandemic to examine the effects of information treatments on individuals’ cooperation with social distancing measures. Using a 2×2 factorial design, we examine the effects of social comparisons and a powerful messenger. Based on a sample of about 3,000 respondents, we find that our subjects cooperated with social distancing measures more when they understood they had spent a relatively long time outside the home compared with the social norms in the previous week. By contrast, we find no evidence that a powerful messenger increases the effectiveness of the message